Own-goal helps City beat Sunderland in Guardiola’s EPL debut

Current custodian Joe Hart could be the next victim of Guardiola’s purge of his City squad, one that has seen Wilfried Bony, Eliqauim Mangala and Samir Nasri all expected to depart the club.

Jonathan Smith: Guardiola starts against a team even less settled than his own, with Sunderland losing manager Sam Allardyce in late July. We’re going in the right direction. “Now, he is a player of us”. Mourinho has plenty of attacking talent at his disposal but the question is who should play and in what formation.

Hart has been with City since 2006, and is England’s undisputed No. 1.

Hart had a disappointing campaign for England during the European Championship, blamed for two of the goals conceded – including Iceland’s victor in the last 16.

He said: “August 31 is the last day”.

New £47.5million signing John Stones was handed an immediate debut alongside fellow new recruit Nolito while Aleksandar Kolarov played in an unfamiliar central defensive role.

Stones is another technically gifted player.

“We backed off too much and allowed the ball to be played across the six yard box, which made it really hard because – whether it be a striker or a defender, there was a great chance of either a goal or an own-goal”.

“People thought I was leaving and I know there’s been a lot of speculation this summer but Manchester City was always my priority”.

AR: “Many teams think they can win the title, but they are afraid to say it – they prefer to play a defensive game in the press”. “But he reads the game”.

“Stones has had a lack of time with his teammates but he reads the game so there are people who are intelligent”. John Stones, that is why we took him.

“I want us to give the crowd something to shout about, and I’m hoping to do that, but more importantly I need to build on what happened a year ago under Sam [Allardyce]”. But the midfielder breathed new life into his stop-start career while in Germany, establishing himself as one of the best players in the Bundesliga.

Three months and six days after their glittering coronation as champions, Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester open the new season with a trip to promoted Hull City on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s debut in the Premiership couldn’t have been better than with an early penalty conceded by Patrick van Aanholt who felled Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero said ‘thank you.’ But though Manchester City kept possession — Guardiola would want nothing else — it didn’t translate into the light blue shirts being very creative.

“Tomorrow (Saturday), to create something we need time”.